Better Than This
by Narnia Forever
Summary: Used to be Never Letting Go. I am taking over this story from StarryEyedLove. Just read! You won't be dissapointed!
1. Chapter 1

** Okay so I'm taking over this story from my friend because she wasn't going to continue it… But I like this story too much for it to be discontinued, so here is the first chapter!**

Disclaimer- I do not own Thief Lord, just my character Andria.

A girl walked cautiously through the dangerous streets. Now most girls would be terrified, being all alone in the dark alleyways, but not Andria. Oh how she had missed these streets in the 6 months she had been gone. She shuddered involuntarily at the memory of leaving these streets in the first place…. Her best friend, and most important person to her, had most definitely not taken it to well.

Flashback 6 Months

'Scip?' she asked timidly, 'Can I talk to you?'

The boy, named Scipio, turned around to face her, a look of confusion on his face.

'Uhhh sure. What's wrong An?' he looked concerned for his best friend, who had paled considerably.

'I-I cough I've made a decision… And Scip you may not like it but please hear me out first okay?' she asked desperately.

How could she tell him what she was about to… How would she tell the one she cared about most that she was leaving…. For a long period of time.

Scipio was confused. Never had he seen this usually fearless girl look so nervous, what could possibly be troubling her? Andria's usually fair complexion was now as white as a sheet, her hands trembling slightly at her side. What decision could she have made that had her so shaken up?

'Alright, I promise, but please Andy, talk to me. What's wrong?'

She couldn't bare look into those eyes that were staring intensely at her face. Not those eyes that she had so quickly fallen in love with, as well as the boy they belonged too. She was so afraid of the pain and betrayal or anger and hate she would see in them when she told her decision. Her heart would surely break.

'I'm going away Scip,' she said barely above a whisper never raising her gaze off the floor.

Surely he had heard wrong…. She couldn't have said she was going away...

'Sorry, w-what?' he asked eye brows furrowed.

'I said I'm going away Scipio,' she said clearer, though still quietly.

'What do you mean by that…? Surely you mean for a few days?' his chest was tightening painfully.

She shook her head solemnly, 'No, not for a few days…'

His breath caught in his throat, this could not be happening. This had to be some kind of sick joke, or a terrible nightmare. His best friend, the most important person in his life, she could not be leaving.

'Why, why would you want to leave Andria?' he asked beginning to feel hurt and angered.

'No Scip, no. I don't want to leave, I would never i want /i to leave!' she was becoming frantic, she didn't want things to be this way, it wasn't fair.

'Then why? Why are you leaving?' his voice getting louder.

'Please Scipio, you have to understand, I can't stay here right now. Not with me being sick, not when it is so contagious... I don't want anyone else to be sick. Please understand why I am doing this,' now she was holding back the tears, begging for him to understand.

She knew it was useless though, he couldn't understand. To him this was her leaving, that's all it was, her leaving him. And without reason in his eyes. Why did things have to turn out this way, they were finally beginning to get better, why now?

'That's only a bigger reason for you to stay, An, gosh don't you understand where I'm coming from. If I let you go there is a chance you could die, the odds aren't good An. I'm not going to lose you like that, you need to stay here until you get better,' he was mad and concerned at the same time.

He wanted her to just get it through her head that she would most likely die if she left… Did she not understand how devastating that would be…? How could he live without her?

'Scip, please, Scip. I know that if I leave I might die… but I would much rather die then see you, Hornet, Riccio, or Mosca get this curse, this disease, this burden. I would not be able to live with myself Scipio. Gosh you know how much I care about you and the others… I don't want to leave... But this way if I leave and I do get better, when I get back you guys will be alive. If I stayed Scip, you or the others, or all of you got sick, then what would be the point of me staying? Please…… Please Scip. I'm leaving no matter what you say…. I don't want to leave with us like this!'

Tears were now streaming freely down her face, she was sobbing deeply. Wishing with everything in her that this disease would just go away and let her be…She could stay with Scip and the others, and everything would be alright.

Finally after not getting a response she looked up at him, he was still staring at her, but is eyes were filled with such pain that she felt her heart rip to pieces in that instant. He shook his head as one lone tear slid down his face before turning and walking away.

Andria fell to her knees sobbing wanting to scream so loud that the Gods would hear and come to her rescue…. She knew it wouldn't happen. This was the way things were… She was leaving, and it would be without any goodbyes too.

End of Flashback

That had been the last time she saw Scipio in 6 months 1 week and two days. She had counted. It killed her, slowly but surely she was dying without him. That's why she was coming back, she had reached the state in the disease where it was no longer contagious, though she was not any healthier… No things were getting worse, and Andria knew her time was limited now.

But that didn't matter to her at the moment, all that mattered was getting to her old friends…. Her real family.


	2. Chapter 2 She Returns

**Disclaimer- I do not own Thief Lord, only my character Andria!**

A/N- Here is the next chapter... Hopefully you like it. Please review!

Sucking in a deep breath through the cold night air she glanced around. If her memory served her correctly she was almost there. Anxiety quickly made its way into her thoughts as she began stressing about her visit… What if they wouldn't accept her back? That would surely be far worse then just never seeing them again. Maybe she could just run away again and just stay away. It would solve a lot of her problems… Although there were far too many down sides to that idea.

She had already missed her friends dearly, she could never leave forever... Especially not without a proper goodbye.

Sighing deeply she knew she would not be able to leave, she would have to go through with her plan. No matter what the consequences.

Glancing around her she noticed she had made it all the way to the door, she hadn't noticed she was _that_ close!

She began to panic a little, but shook her head and reluctantly knocked on the door.

The door flew open and she was face to face with Hornet.

That night at the Stella Scipio had shown up with two new boys. One of them being a younger boy who had a very horrible cough. Hornet had just finished putting him to bed (Scipio, and the new older boy Prosper had gone to retrieve something along with Riccio and Mosca had already gone to bed) when she heard a knock on the door.

Automatically thinking it was Scipio and the others, she went to open the door for them.

Although she was slightly confused to how they had gone so quickly.

She opened the door and her eyes widened. This was definitely not the boys.

It was a girl! Who was it though? The girl was around 15 with long silky raven curls and deep green eyes. She looked vaguely familiar to Hornet… But she just couldn't think of who it was…

Hornet stood there staring at Andria (which was becoming a bit nerve-racking) as Andria bit her lip, hard.

She didn't recognize her! Although… she really couldn't blame her, even Andria herself could see how much she had changed.

Her hair had become extra curly, her skin had paled, and she had grown a lot. She had once been a short, petite little girl, but now she was quite tall and really wasn't that small. Although she still managed to keep her slender waist… although you would having not eaten barely anything.

'Who are you?' Hornet finally asked.

'You- You don't recognize me? It's me, Andria.'

She was so nervous she thought she was surely going to pass out. She had hoped they would all recognize her and it would be a happy reunion… But judging by the astonished and hurt look on Hornet's face… That seemed very unlikely.

'Andria?' she gasped.

For a moment Andria thought Hornet would slam the door in her face, but that quickly shattered when she was pushed backwards from the force of a hug.

She tightly wrapped her arms around Hornet, never wanting to let go. Hornet and Andria had always been like sisters, how could she ever have abandoned her like that?

But that was the last thing on Hornet's mind, she was just so excited to finally have her good friend back.

'It's so great to see you!' Hornet said as she quickly pulled Andria inside.

Andria smiled softly, 'It's great to see you too.'

She sat down carefully on a chair, for she was really quite weak.

The smile on Hornet's face immediately fell.

'You're getting worse,' she whispered.

Andria looked to the floor, feeling very shameful. Though she really didn't have reason to, it wasn't her fault she was ill. But no one would be able to convince her of that.

'I know…' was her only reply.

Seeing the pained look on Andria's face, Hornet decided this should be a happy moment. Andria was back! This night should not be ruined because of something uncontrollable.

'Well, I'm sure the others will be thrilled to see you! I know I am. Oh and we got two new boys today! One is around our age, and the other is a little boy named Bo. Scip found them on the street, poor Bo had a horrible cough. But no worries, I'll have him fixed up in no time!' Hornet knew she was rambling, but she just wanted to make her friend happy.

Of course Andria knew her all to well, and had to stop herself from chuckling.

She cleared her throat, 'Well that's good. But hopefully you don't mind, I'm a quite tired and just want to sleep. I assure you though that tomorrow I will listen to everything everyone has to say, every single word. I'm afraid if I tried that right now I would fall asleep.'

They both chuckled lightly, glad the mood had been lightened.

So Andria went to bed, not aware that Scipio had showed up shortly after that… And she also didn't know what his reaction was…

When the boys got back Hornet had already decided she was not going to tell them about Andria… It would be slightly rude to her…

But after a while of talking she decided she couldn't handle that kind of a secret. She was too excited now!

Quickly she asked to talk to Scipio alone for a moment. That way she would only have to tell one person, and then when everyone else knew it wouldn't be _entirely_ her fault.

'Scip, you'll never guess who's here!' she squeaked in excitement.

'Wait, you let someone in here? Hornet! You need to ask before you do something like that!' Scipio was assuming the worst and began to panic.

Hornet but a hand on her hip, 'You brought home two people today and didn't give us warning. But anyways, that's beside the point! Trust me this is a very good thing that they came! You know them well… Come on just guess, please?'

Scipio rolled her eyes, 'Just tell me Hornet, I have some things to do.'

Hornet pouted but knew it was best not to push the Thief Lord's buttons.

'Andria! She's back Scipio! She's finally back!' tears of joy had sprung to her eyes.

She hadn't wanted to be too emotional in front of Andria, but now it was all coming out.

Scipio looked at her in disbelief.

'Sorry… Who?' surely he had heard her wrong.

The Andria he knew had left nearly 6 months ago. She was never coming back.

'Andria! She's here Scip!'

Many emotions could be seen on his face at that moment. Disbelief, confusion, amazement, happiness, hurt, and sadness were just a few. But there was also one look that Hornet could not understand, she didn't know what it meant.

Scipio shook his head and walked away leaving Hornet staring at his back completely confused. She thought he would have been happy, Andria was his best friend. They used to be inseparable. But then she thought of something that she had just said herself, they _used_to be. Scipio had said that Andria had left… but he never said why, or what had happened before she did. Many scenarios's flashed through her head of what could have happened.

'I'm leaving, I'll be back tomorrow. Maybe,' and with that Scipio was gone

Andria lay in her bed, she just couldn't seem to fall asleep. She was so nervous about seeing Scipio again. She knew him far too well, and he wouldn't take kindly to her just showing up again.

The only thing she really wanted was to be close to him again, she longed to just sit and talk to him like she used too. It just wasn't fair that everything they had, had been ripped away from them.

She sighed burying her head further into the pillow. She wanted to scream but was afraid she would wake someone up.

Deciding she should get her sleep and worry about this tomorrow she attempted to calm herself down. Which for her was quite difficult.

Finally in the early hours of the morning she drifted off into a fitful slumber.


End file.
